Benjamin Harrison Holcomb1 
M, (3 July 1889 - 2 December 2000)
- Relationship
- 8th great-grandson of Herman Op Den Graeff
Benjamin Harrison Holcomb was born on 3 July 1889 at Robinson, Brown County, Kansas.2,1 He was the son of Chestnut Wade Holcomb and Nancy Sarah Jane Sharp. Benjamin Harrison Holcomb married, at age 21, Ollie Leona Rich, age 15 on Wednesday, 10 August 1910 at Anadarko, Caddo County, Oklahoma.3 Benjamin Harrison Holcomb died on 2 December 2000 at Carnegie Nursing Home, Carnegie, Caddo County, Oklahoma, at age 111 years, 4 months and 29 days.4,1 He was buried on 8 December 2000 in the Fairview Cemetery, located in Caddo County, Oklahoma.5
He was a farmer. He Carnegie (Oklahoma), May 31: Benjamin Harrison Holcomb, age 110, always ate a big breakfast, cried often, rarely drank and never smoked. Now he has lived in three centuries.
The world's oldest man -- a title the Guinness Book of World Records bestowed on him last week -- Holcomb farmed wheat, dabbled in cotton and raised cattle and children for most of his life. His family say he had few vices but he did divorce twice before his third marriage stuck.
From his birth in 1889, his life has mainly ebbed and flowed with Oklahoma's land, weather and waving wheat.
So what is life like for a man entering a third century?'' Feels like it did yesterday,'' Holcomb, whose descendants number into five generations, told daughter Leona Ford, 84.
Exhausted by phone calls from around the world after he made it into the Guinness Book, he slept through most of the following few days. But his children spoke for him at his side in the Carnegie nursing home, where he gets daily visits from Ford, his other daughter, Lucille, 85, and son John, 80.
``He says they (the callers) are probably mixed up,'' Ford said. ``He's never known he was old. He's just one of these people who lived one day at a time.''
``Life's been fairly good for my daddy,'' Ford said. ``Course, it was hard.''
Holcomb was born on July 3, 1889, in Robinson, Kansas, the 7th and youngest child of Chestnut Wade Holcomb, 45, and Sarah Jane Holcomb, 41. His father fought in the civil war as an officer on the victorious Union side.
The year Holcomb was born was also the year of the Oklahoma land run, when huge sections of the future state were opened for white settlers. He was an infant when his family came in a covered wagon and started a farm near the town of Seiling.
They made part of their home a school and Holcomb started classes at age four. Part of his longevity may have begun then, Ford said. She said his mother breast-fed him until the age of 5, a practice not uncommon in pioneering days.
``I think that might be part of it. He would come home from school and she had a special little rocking chair. She would sit in it and he would stand next to her to nurse.''
Learning to read at an early age led to a lifelong pursuit. By the time he entered the nursing home, Holcomb subscribed to and regularly read about a dozen magazines and newspapers.
Copyright ©2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
July 3, 2000; Oklahoma City, OKLAHOMA (AP) -- Getting a birthday gift for the world's oldest man isn't an easy task. ''What does a 111-year-old man need that he doesn't already have?'' asked the man's daughter, Leona Ford.
Ben Holcomb, recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest man, celebrated his 111th birthday Monday with an outdoor cookout and a wheelchair parade in his honor at the Carnegie Nursing Home. Nearly 250 people were on hand. Holcomb played basketball and won prizes in the ring toss at a little carnival held in his honor. Earlier in the day, nursing home residents wheeled through the halls of the nursing home and into the rooms of all the people who couldn't go outside to watch, Ford said, ''The wheelchairs were decorated to the hilt,'' Ford said.
Holcomb was born in Brown County, Kansas in 1889. When people ask him how he has lived so long, Ford, the youngest of Holcomb's five children, said he tells them one thing: He says 'you live one day at a time the best you can.' Holcomb has 5 children, 9 grandchildren, 14 great- grandchildren, and 9 great-great-grandchildren. Up until in his late '90s, he farmed hundreds of acres of land.
AP-NY-07-03-00 2137EDT
Oldest man on record dies at 111 -- 12/04/2000
By Robyn Lydick
Staff Writer
CARNEGIE -- Leona Ford, 84, held her father in her arms as he died. Benjamin Harrison Holcomb -- declared the world's oldest man earlier this year by the Guinness Book of Records -- died Saturday.
He was 111. His funeral will be 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Apache, arranged by Crews Funeral Home in Apache.
Holcomb was born July 3, 1889. He farmed on the edge of Cache Creek near Apache until 1996 when he moved into a Carnegie nursing home.
Ford, her sister, Lucille Bridwell, 85, and her brother, John Holcomb, 80, visited their father every day for six years.
Holcomb over the years was asked the secret to his longevity. 'I'll tell you this,' Holcomb once said. 'If you live one day at a time and you don't die, you'll live a long life.'
Holcomb was interested in politics his entire life, Ford said.
He was also an avid hunter, featured in a 1998 Outdoor Life Magazine for being the oldest man, at 107, to shoot a deer.
The two interests collided on a hunting trip to Arkansas.
'All these guys were drinking beer and telling wild tales,' Ford said. 'Daddy noticed one man who didn't really do any of that.
'He came over to my daddy and his friends and asked them to vote for him for governor. My dad said 'If you ever run for president, I will.''
The man was President Clinton.
Another article can be found at http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/12/04/oldest.man.reut/
Oklahoma farmer, world's oldest man, dies at 111
December 4, 2000
Web posted at: 6:34 p.m. EST (2334 GMT)
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (Reuters) -- A 111-year-old Oklahoma farmer recognized last May as the world's oldest man by the Guinness Book of Records has died in a nursing home, a spokesman for the home said Monday.
Benjamin Harrison Holcomb died peacefully in bed on Saturday as his daughter Leona Ford, 84, sat by his side, Brent Busby of the Carnegie Nursing Home said.
'He'll be missed dearly,' Busby said. He said he did not know the exact cause of death.
Holcomb came into the spotlight when he was named the world's oldest man in May at age 110.
Holcomb was born July 3, 1889, in Robinson, Kansas, and for most of his life farmed wheat and cotton and raised cattle near the town of Apache in southwestern Oklahoma.
He escaped the 20th century's two greatest armed conflicts, being passed over for the First World War because he was a farmer with four children and again at the outbreak of the Second World War because he was too old at 51.
In 1996, he moved to the nursing home in Carnegie, 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, where he was visited daily by daughter Leona and another daughter and son in their 80s.
CARNEGIE, Okla. (AP) -- Benjamin Harrison Holcomb, declared the world's oldest man earlier this year by the Guinness Book of Records, has died.
Family members said Holcomb died on Saturday in the arms of his 84-year-old daughter, Leona Ford. Holcomb was 111.
Holcomb was born July 3, 1889. He farmed on the edge of Cache Creek near Apache until 1996 when he moved into a Carnegie nursing home.
Ford, her sister, Lucille Bridwell, 85, and her brother, John Holcomb, 80, visited their father every day for six years.
Over the years, Holcomb was often asked the secret to his longevity.
'I'll tell you this,' Holcomb once said. 'If you live one day at a time and you don't die, you'll live a long life.'
Holcomb was interested in politics his entire life, Ford said.
He was also an avid hunter, featured in a 1998 Outdoor Life Magazine for being the oldest man, at 107, to shoot a deer.
A funeral is scheduled at 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Apache, arranged by Crews Funeral Home in Apache.
According to the Social Security Administrations Death Index Benjamin's last known residence was Anadarko, Caddo County, Oklahoma.1
He was a farmer. He Carnegie (Oklahoma), May 31: Benjamin Harrison Holcomb, age 110, always ate a big breakfast, cried often, rarely drank and never smoked. Now he has lived in three centuries.
The world's oldest man -- a title the Guinness Book of World Records bestowed on him last week -- Holcomb farmed wheat, dabbled in cotton and raised cattle and children for most of his life. His family say he had few vices but he did divorce twice before his third marriage stuck.
From his birth in 1889, his life has mainly ebbed and flowed with Oklahoma's land, weather and waving wheat.
So what is life like for a man entering a third century?'' Feels like it did yesterday,'' Holcomb, whose descendants number into five generations, told daughter Leona Ford, 84.
Exhausted by phone calls from around the world after he made it into the Guinness Book, he slept through most of the following few days. But his children spoke for him at his side in the Carnegie nursing home, where he gets daily visits from Ford, his other daughter, Lucille, 85, and son John, 80.
``He says they (the callers) are probably mixed up,'' Ford said. ``He's never known he was old. He's just one of these people who lived one day at a time.''
``Life's been fairly good for my daddy,'' Ford said. ``Course, it was hard.''
Holcomb was born on July 3, 1889, in Robinson, Kansas, the 7th and youngest child of Chestnut Wade Holcomb, 45, and Sarah Jane Holcomb, 41. His father fought in the civil war as an officer on the victorious Union side.
The year Holcomb was born was also the year of the Oklahoma land run, when huge sections of the future state were opened for white settlers. He was an infant when his family came in a covered wagon and started a farm near the town of Seiling.
They made part of their home a school and Holcomb started classes at age four. Part of his longevity may have begun then, Ford said. She said his mother breast-fed him until the age of 5, a practice not uncommon in pioneering days.
``I think that might be part of it. He would come home from school and she had a special little rocking chair. She would sit in it and he would stand next to her to nurse.''
Learning to read at an early age led to a lifelong pursuit. By the time he entered the nursing home, Holcomb subscribed to and regularly read about a dozen magazines and newspapers.
Copyright ©2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
July 3, 2000; Oklahoma City, OKLAHOMA (AP) -- Getting a birthday gift for the world's oldest man isn't an easy task. ''What does a 111-year-old man need that he doesn't already have?'' asked the man's daughter, Leona Ford.
Ben Holcomb, recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest man, celebrated his 111th birthday Monday with an outdoor cookout and a wheelchair parade in his honor at the Carnegie Nursing Home. Nearly 250 people were on hand. Holcomb played basketball and won prizes in the ring toss at a little carnival held in his honor. Earlier in the day, nursing home residents wheeled through the halls of the nursing home and into the rooms of all the people who couldn't go outside to watch, Ford said, ''The wheelchairs were decorated to the hilt,'' Ford said.
Holcomb was born in Brown County, Kansas in 1889. When people ask him how he has lived so long, Ford, the youngest of Holcomb's five children, said he tells them one thing: He says 'you live one day at a time the best you can.' Holcomb has 5 children, 9 grandchildren, 14 great- grandchildren, and 9 great-great-grandchildren. Up until in his late '90s, he farmed hundreds of acres of land.
AP-NY-07-03-00 2137EDT
Oldest man on record dies at 111 -- 12/04/2000
By Robyn Lydick
Staff Writer
CARNEGIE -- Leona Ford, 84, held her father in her arms as he died. Benjamin Harrison Holcomb -- declared the world's oldest man earlier this year by the Guinness Book of Records -- died Saturday.
He was 111. His funeral will be 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Apache, arranged by Crews Funeral Home in Apache.
Holcomb was born July 3, 1889. He farmed on the edge of Cache Creek near Apache until 1996 when he moved into a Carnegie nursing home.
Ford, her sister, Lucille Bridwell, 85, and her brother, John Holcomb, 80, visited their father every day for six years.
Holcomb over the years was asked the secret to his longevity. 'I'll tell you this,' Holcomb once said. 'If you live one day at a time and you don't die, you'll live a long life.'
Holcomb was interested in politics his entire life, Ford said.
He was also an avid hunter, featured in a 1998 Outdoor Life Magazine for being the oldest man, at 107, to shoot a deer.
The two interests collided on a hunting trip to Arkansas.
'All these guys were drinking beer and telling wild tales,' Ford said. 'Daddy noticed one man who didn't really do any of that.
'He came over to my daddy and his friends and asked them to vote for him for governor. My dad said 'If you ever run for president, I will.''
The man was President Clinton.
Another article can be found at http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/12/04/oldest.man.reut/
Oklahoma farmer, world's oldest man, dies at 111
December 4, 2000
Web posted at: 6:34 p.m. EST (2334 GMT)
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (Reuters) -- A 111-year-old Oklahoma farmer recognized last May as the world's oldest man by the Guinness Book of Records has died in a nursing home, a spokesman for the home said Monday.
Benjamin Harrison Holcomb died peacefully in bed on Saturday as his daughter Leona Ford, 84, sat by his side, Brent Busby of the Carnegie Nursing Home said.
'He'll be missed dearly,' Busby said. He said he did not know the exact cause of death.
Holcomb came into the spotlight when he was named the world's oldest man in May at age 110.
Holcomb was born July 3, 1889, in Robinson, Kansas, and for most of his life farmed wheat and cotton and raised cattle near the town of Apache in southwestern Oklahoma.
He escaped the 20th century's two greatest armed conflicts, being passed over for the First World War because he was a farmer with four children and again at the outbreak of the Second World War because he was too old at 51.
In 1996, he moved to the nursing home in Carnegie, 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, where he was visited daily by daughter Leona and another daughter and son in their 80s.
CARNEGIE, Okla. (AP) -- Benjamin Harrison Holcomb, declared the world's oldest man earlier this year by the Guinness Book of Records, has died.
Family members said Holcomb died on Saturday in the arms of his 84-year-old daughter, Leona Ford. Holcomb was 111.
Holcomb was born July 3, 1889. He farmed on the edge of Cache Creek near Apache until 1996 when he moved into a Carnegie nursing home.
Ford, her sister, Lucille Bridwell, 85, and her brother, John Holcomb, 80, visited their father every day for six years.
Over the years, Holcomb was often asked the secret to his longevity.
'I'll tell you this,' Holcomb once said. 'If you live one day at a time and you don't die, you'll live a long life.'
Holcomb was interested in politics his entire life, Ford said.
He was also an avid hunter, featured in a 1998 Outdoor Life Magazine for being the oldest man, at 107, to shoot a deer.
A funeral is scheduled at 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Apache, arranged by Crews Funeral Home in Apache.
According to the Social Security Administrations Death Index Benjamin's last known residence was Anadarko, Caddo County, Oklahoma.1
Children of Benjamin Harrison Holcomb and Ollie Leona Rich
- Lucille Holcomb (c 1915 - )
- Leona Annie Holcomb+
- John Oliver Holcomb+
Last Edited=18 Apr 2005
Citations
- [S578] Social Security Death Index, RootsWeb online, at <http://ssdi.rootsweb.com> (Baltimore, Maryland: U.S. Social Security Administration, March 2005 update). The SSDI component of RootsWeb online is drawn from the Social Security Death Benefits Index of the U.S. Social Security Administration. BENJAMIN H HOLCOMB, birth listed as 03 Jul 1889, died listed as 02 Dec 2000 (V), issued in the State of Oklahoma. Last residence Anadarko, Caddo, OK, last benefit (none specified). Accessed 18 Apr 2005.
- [S592] James H Holcombe, Thomas Holcombe of Connecticut: Person Page 972, online http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/data/p972.htm (3600 Eaglerock Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30340, USA; (770) 491-0370; e-mail address: page last updated 9 April 2005) viewed on 18 April 2005. shows the date of birth for Benjamin Harrison Holcomb as 3 July 1889 and the location as Robinson, Brown Co., KS.
- [S592] James H Holcombe, Thomas Holcombe of Connecticut: Person Page 972, online http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/data/p972.htm, shows the date of marriage between Ollie Leona Rich and Benjamin Harrison Holcomb as 10 August 1910 in Anadarko, Caddo County, Oklahoma.
- [S592] James H Holcombe, Thomas Holcombe of Connecticut: Person Page 972, online http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/data/p972.htm, shows the date of death for Benjamin Harrison Holcomb as 2 December 2000 and the location as Carnegie Nursing Home, Carnegie, Caddo Co., OK.
- [S592] James H Holcombe, Thomas Holcombe of Connecticut: Person Page 972, online http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/data/p972.htm, shows the date of burial for Benjamin Harrison Holcomb as 8 December 2000 in Fairview Cemetery, Caddo Co., OK.